PROTECT PLATFORM WORKERS WITH FIRE FIGHTING KNOW-HOW

The Shell Oil Company has developed a fire-protection system for oil-rig platforms in Cooke Bay, Alaska. In view of the severe weather conditions, the machinery of the platforms is enclosed in shelters, raising the risk of filling them with smoke, making visibility poor, and inhibiting breathing when a fire occurs. The seawater in the bay is cold or is ice-covered, complicating evacuation and creating a high risk. To protect the platforms, therefore, a stationary system is used, providing for centralized supply of light-water solution to all sites having flammable liquids and gases. A light-water solution on a burning liquid forms a molecular layer which decreases evaporation and isolates the surface of the liquid from atmospheric oxygen. At the same time the light water cools the hot metal structures. The prepared solution is stored in a steam-heated container. The system is designed for the supply of the necessary amount of solution for 5 min. to the most highly protected site. In addition, powder-type fire extinguishers and hand-operated fire extinguishers are provided on the platforms. All the personnel working on the platforms go through a three-day training course in the fire school in California. Particular attention is devoted to acquiring practical skill in fire extinguishment in special training buildings and on the testing range. Typical actual situations are simulated in the exercises: burning of diesel fuel in a building gasoline flow along a vertical wall, and burning of gasoline flowing through a leaky flange joint.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00301388
• Corporate Authors:

  Petroleum Publishing Company

  211 South Cheyenne, P.O. Box 1260
  Tulsa, OK  United States  75221
• Authors:
  • Bleakley, W B
• Publication Date: 1971

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 100-101
• Serial:
  • Oil and Gas Journal
  • Volume: 69
  • Issue Number: 37
  • Publisher: PennWell Publishing Company
  • ISSN: 0030-1388

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Fire extinguishing agents; Fire fighting; Fire fighting equipment
• Subject Areas: Marine Transportation; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00051773
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Fire Research Abstracts and Reviews
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 18 1974 12:00AM